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[knowlton]

Lynn:

Is this the relevant link and post by Terry?

If so, I thought I would just paste it in here so we don't have to go back and forth so much. Is that okay?


http://www.latterdayauthors.com/wforum/viewtopic.php?t=478&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I'm not sure this belongs in this part of the forum but it's an answer, I hope, to T. Lynn's question about re-writing within the outline. It has not so much to do with the re-write, but with the structure of the outline.

Re-writing within the outline is possible because of the outline technique I learned when I studied under Dwight Swain and Jack Bickham in the University of Oklahoma writing program.

Swain and Bickham formulated this technique after reading thousands of classical and modern best-selling novels in an effort to find their basic similarities. Something along the lines of what Joseph Campbell did in studying myth.

Some writers I’ve known dismiss this technique as formulaic or too restrictive. I don’t find it so. Not only does it keep me on track, it also helps me sidestep the possibility of the dreaded mid-story sag. And it helps me keep ideas popping.

This is the outline in basic detail and probably more than you want to know but you’ll understand how a re-write can be accomplished as I explain the process. I’m not going to discuss the elements of dialogue here, or scene structure. This is just the graphic outline. If you don’t feel like reading a tome right now, you may want to go on to other posts because this one, I’m sure, rivals anything David ever posted.

Here it is:

Swain taught us that a story is a series of motivation/reaction units or cause-and-effect units. That’s what creates the dialogue. That’s what builds the scenes. That’s what drives the story. The outline is built on that premise.

I guess the outline is more of a graph. Bickham used three long chalk boards to illustrate the graph. I create it on a twelve-foot piece of craft paper. I draw a line, lengthwise, in the center of the paper and divide it into twenty sections, each being a chapter.

The main character’s goal or the main plotline is indicated by a colored line (I like to use red since it’s the main plot.) which goes from the end of Chapter One to the end of Chapter Nineteen. This is the big question and main focus of the story.

The antagonist shows up at the beginning of Chapter Two and I establish his plot or goal which is also written as a question. I use another colored line that extends to Chapter Five where we have a little breather from the bad guy. I re-establish that subplot at the beginning of Chapter Six and follow it to Chapter Eleven. Then pick it up again at Chapter Fifteen. The antagonist’s subplot ends at the climax which is located in Chapter Eighteen.

The main character’s secondary goal or secondary plotline begins in the middle of Chapter Four and extends to the end of Chapter Twenty.

All along the way, there are all kinds of minor subplots and problems that develop. All these relate to the main or sub-plot and help develop character. For instance, in the middle of Chapter Three, assuming the story is not a romance, there is an allusion to a matter of the heart. I indicate that as a red heart. (sigh) Might be a dab of romance or a boy’s frolic with his beloved dog. Also, in Chapter Three is a problem that must be solved before the main character can go on with her goal.

In the middle of Chapter Five, there is some kind of shocking development or a disaster for our main character and her goal. I indicate that with an orange check. Also there is an allusion to a question she may have about one of her friends. As well, at the beginning of Chapter Five is the beginning of a three-chapter quest in which the clock is ticking. Our character has a time limit to accomplish this quest.

Also in this three-chapter block, I have another red heart in the middle of Chapter Six, a disaster or a major change at the end of Chapter Seven. Another red heart at the end of Chapter Eight along with a disaster.

Through Chapters Nine and Ten, we see the main character immersed in the problems of the main plot and the subplot. But, I also have another red heart in the middle of Chapter Twelve.

Between Chapters Eleven and Fourteen is where a lot of novelists run into problems with “sag”. They’ve got the characters established by that time and the story running along, but then what? This is where Bickham tells us to put ten or twelve plates in the air and start the clock ticking again. It’s sort of a mini-novel where the characters are racing around trying to keep the plates up. There is some kind of disaster at the end of Chapter Twelve and a red heart moment in the middle of thirteen. All those mini-plots are solved by the middle of Chapter Fifteen.

Also at the middle of Chapter Fifteen, the antagonist begins his final thrust to achieve his goal in defeating the main character. The main character becomes totally focused on her main goal though there is another red heart in the middle of Chapter Seventeen.

Chapter Eighteen is the ultimate confrontation between antagonist and protagonist. It’s a showdown. The antagonist plays his final card and it looks as if the protagonist is doomed.

In Chapter Nineteen, the antagonist does something, in the course of the struggle, that poses a moral dilemma for the protagonist. Sometimes this is called the “sacrificial moment”. The protagonist chooses the high ground which, somehow, turns the table on the antagonist. The protagonist wins but she may be left wondering if all the struggle was worth the effort.

The question posed by the subplot is answered in Chapter Twenty where the other subplot threads are tied up. Care has to be taken here to that not everything is too “happily ever after”. Americans like happy endings but if it’s too neat, it’s viewed as contrived or “a cheap trick”. The chapter ends in the middle of a scene as if the story continues on even after the end of the novel.

I'm hoping you didn't get lost in all that explanation but, I'm also hoping you can see that, with a solid structure in place, weaknesses in your story, elements that need to be re-written become evident, even before the manuscript is started.

I’m not sure this technique is still widely taught. Besides, Swain and Bickham, Gary Provost, a self-taught writer, used and taught this technique. Unfortunately, all three of those men died about the same time. Gary was very young and went as a result of an undiagnosed heart condition, Jack just smoked himself to death in middle age, but Mr. Swain was very elderly. Still going to class, nearly deaf, nearly blind, and tottering along with the help of his wife/secretary.

The technique, however, is not unknown among writers. Not talked about much, however, because of all the criticism it garners. I know of a couple well-published LDS writers who studied Swain and Bickham, though. One, who publishes with DB, has broken out of the LDS market with her YA novels.

Probably the most well-known writer who uses this technique is Mary Higgens Clark. She telephoned Jack one day in class and asked him to wish us well. Then she told a story about how she’d just gotten a 2.4 million dollar advance but had to borrow money from her doorman for a taxi. How awful!

Anyway, the technique is a pliable tool that, after a writer learns to use it, can be manipulated in many different ways. I’ve even seen it show up in other forms. The one I remember off the “tip” of my head is the movie Aliens.

Obviously, this is something not everyone can use. I’ve taught the outline technique in writing classes and some students “just don’t get it”, others are affronted to discover writing is not a glamorous and mystical process wrought by a muse, others grab the technique and run with it, dragging their muse along behind them.

If you do want to know more about these techniques find Dwight Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer. It’s published by the University of Oklahoma and is often used as a textbook on college campuses. Jack’s book, Scene and Structure (Writers Digest Books) is subtitled “How to construct fiction with scene-by-scene flow, logic and readability.“ Chapter Fourteen is a highly-detailed look at the graphic outline I use and frequently “re-write”.

Terry
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MY ONLINE BOOK: http://scienceofsanctification.blogspot.com/

MY BLOG: http://notleftcomfortless.blogspot.com/

[T. Lynn Adams]

Yup, that's the outlining post.

Your chapter for a prologue--have the man at the fire be Mulek returning from a trip to seek political support for his father, King Zedekiah, in their attempted break from King Nebachadnezzar.

So, how about this for a chapter one outline (100 words or less--I'll go with a Mulek twist):

CHAPTER ONE GOAL: introduce the hero and the main plot/theme of the story.

Two men walking through Jerusalem at night. A yellow cur leaps over them and takes out the throat of a hidden swordsman.

A young man, accompanied by two foot soldiers, appears and asks if the two are fine. Zoram says yes; they just came from the treasury with records to deliver to his brethren and the dog saved their lives. Possibly the assailant saw them come from the treasury and suspected they carried gold.

The soldiers warn Mulek to return to the palace...first the beheaded body now this man with a sword. Mulek calls his dog, Hey, and they return while Nephi and Zoram disappear into the night.

Mulek notices the fine clothes on the dead swordsman and knows he didn't attack for money. Mulek wonders about the record's importance.

Okay, so it's 132 words...sorry. We still need to keep the chapter synopses short. Too long and people will get bored and not read/learn.

Next chapter: develop a villian and his plot/quest. Got any good villian ideas? Maybe a transcendent, timeless villian who keeps showing up in all dispensations so the reader knows this is bigger than normal.
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Tombs of Terror, YA adventure fiction
Author's Website: http://tlynnadams.blogspot.com/

My LDS Thoughts http://myldsthoughts.blogspot.com/

"The greatest books have yet to be written, the greatest inventions have yet to be made." -Rex R. Reeve

[knowlton]

[kelly miller]

I'm more into looking for the sasquatch in the Santa Cruz mountains. There are some unusual people living there. And a wonderful lds camp hidden inside a Lockhead security fence. The best way to visualize it is to go there. Beautiful redwoods, a look out to the coastline, and privacy. Until the sasquatch... actually they had a pesky mountain lion and that can sound like a spooky ghost.
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retire to heber

[Jessica Foster]

You guys have such imaginations!
I just wanted to comment that I like how the dog thinks his name is Hey. In fact, I've just given my dog a new middle name because she doesn't come to just Lucy any more. She only comes when I say, "Lucy Wantsome?" cuz she thinks she is going to get something good.

[Gary McCallister]

I heard a Mountain Lion scream once when standing guard outside in a forest (military). It really does sound like a woman being tortured and it scared the living day lights out of me.
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Gary McCallister
http://www.onemanmormonbluesband.com/home.html
http://flaming-moth.blogspot.com/
http://beebarbeeranch.blogspot.com/